On January 3rd 2018 the majority of the provisions of Directive 2014/65/EU on markets in financial instruments (“MiFID II”) and Regulation (EU) No. 600/2014 on markets in financial instruments (“MiFIR”) became applicable. MiFIR (with the exception of Article 37 thereof which shall apply from January 3rd 2020) is directly applicable in Luxembourg. MiFID II will be transposed into Luxembourg Law upon the adoption of Draft Law No. 7157 (the “Draft Law”). We refer you to the previous article in our October 2017 Newsletter regarding the Draft Law and the related draft Grand-ducal Regulation.
The latest significant development on the Draft Law was the opinion issued on November 13th 2017 by the Chamber of Commerce. It is now undergoing review by the Budget and Finance Commission (Commission des Finances et du Budget).
In the context of the entry into force of MiFID II and MiFIR, whilst the Draft Law has not yet been adopted, the CSSF published Press Release 17/47 (the “Press Release”) to clarify certain points regarding the application of the new MiFID II/MiFIR legislative framework during this interim period.
In the Press Release the CSSF draws attention to the fact that given the direct application of MiFIR, as from January 3rd 2018, credit institutions, investment firms and trading venue operators must respect the provisions of MiFIR as opposed to the corresponding provisions of the Luxembourg Law of April 5th 1993 on the financial sector (the “Financial Sector Law”) and the Luxembourg Law of July 13th 2007 on markets in financial instruments (the “Markets in Financial Instruments Law").
The CSSF stressed that during this interim period, in accordance with fundamental EU principles, the Financial Sector Law and the Markets in Financial Instruments Law will need to be interpreted in a way which gives the fullest possible effect to the provisions of MiFID II which confer new rights or are more favourable than the applicable national rules (in particular those provisions of MiFID II which strengthen investor protection).
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